Freeze Dried Food (Mountain House, Reiters etc.)

[Terr]

Anyone use these?

Mountain House is good but REALLY expensive at £5.50 a pack. Reiters is terrible and likely to give you a heart attack after a couple each day.

Are there any other brands here in the UK? I like MOD rat packs but they're a bit heavy to carry around.

 

[SussexRob]

I used these with My Explorer scouts, (ok got a trade price deal with them due to being a scout section) but have to say, I was impressed with them. The only thing that wasn't much cop was the isotonic drink.

http://www.bewellexpeditionfoods.com/Base-Camp-2400-Kcal/

 

[Lordyosch]

Hi Terr.

I've used the services of http://www.expeditionfoods.com a few times for trips to the Picos de Europa, Sierra de Gredos and Pyrenees (as well as occasional UK jaunts).

They do a fair range of pretty tasty meals. I usually opt for these ones... http://www.expeditionfoods.com/expedition-foods/freeze-dried/high-energy-serving.html
They're 800Kcal a bag, add boiling water, stir and leave. No hassle.

They're not the cheapest at about £6 a go but in terms of dry weight/ portion size/ taste/ energy /no dodgy additives* I think they're spot on. They're meals I look forward to eating at the end of the day in the mountains.

Also really good are 'Real Turmat' which are Norwegian -they are now £8 a pop (ouch!) I used to get them from the same supplier, but the ones linked above are their own version I think.

I always keep one in the 'emergency kit' in the back of my truck for just in case I get caught out far from home.

Jay

*delving deeper into the website, some of the varieties I haven't tried do list a larger number of additives.

 

[torc]

Although not cheap, for it's combination of convenience, taste and light weight, freeze dried food is the only way to go if you want to carry more
than a few days worth of food.
Expedition Foods and UK bought Mountain House contents are made by European Freeze Dry, the European subsidiary of the US Mountain House company
so they are the same thing.
Both EF and MH come in proper big lads portions, are easy to prepare and taste very good.
Katadyn's "Trek'n'Eat" brand are not bad either but only come in 630ish kcal portions.
http://www.trekneat.com/en/trekn-eat-products/.
Katadyn has a £5 flat shipping rate to the UK.
You're right about Reiter, they're not the greatest.
I know nothing about Be-Well but you could glean an idea about who the manufacturers of the contents are by googling the EU food producers code.
I've had some good luck searching for bargains from US online outdoor retailers during sales but I'm not sure about the legality of importing these things .
I scored twelve large portion US MH meals plus postage two months ago for about half the price I would pay here in Europe.
Happy trails...torc.

 

[Terr]

Thank you for your input everyone! I will have a good look at all of them.

 

[PDA1]

Make your own. it's easy, make the meals as additional portions of what you were going to eat at home that day and dehydrate the "left overs" or make them specifically for dehydrating. You can control content, flavour, level of spice etc. and more important, portion size. Cost about 1/4 of MH and the like. A very good web site is http://www.trailcooking.com/
Some very good vids by MrBabelfish5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnjggTXii84&feature=g-all-u&context=G235a27cFAAAAAAAAAAA and on his web site. You can see that he really enjoys his food!

 

[Terr]

Thanks guys. I put in an order for a weeks worth of Pack'n'Go dinners. If it's true that Expedition Foods and Mountain House are basically the same thing then I will stick with Mountain House for the moment as shipping is free so long as I buy 5 packs or so. The hotpot from Expedition Foods looks enticing though. Maybe if I run into them in stores...

Make your own. it's easy, make the meals as additional portions of what you were going to eat at home that day and dehydrate the "left overs" or make them specifically for dehydrating. You can control content, flavour, level of spice etc. and more important, portion size. Cost about 1/4 of MH and the like. A very good web site is http://www.trailcooking.com/
Some very good vids by MrBabelfish5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnjggTXii84&feature=g-all-u&context=G235a27cFAAAAAAAAAAA and on his web site. You can see that he really enjoys his food!

Thanks, I have seen Babel's recipes and quietly chuckled to myself everytime he used Worcestershire sauce. LOL. His recipes look great but I don't own a dehydrator. I'd buy one if I thought I had the room to store it. Maybe I'll try it in the oven... I have heard that can work.

 

[PDA1]

Terr - you can definitely dehydrate in your standard oven. Put it on lowest setting with door slightly ajar. Measure the temperature and look for 65 deg c for non meat dishes, and 75 for meat containing dishes. Spread the meals on cookie sheets and dry for several hours. May need to flip half way. Great chance to experiment and you will be the envy of hikers everywhere when you rehydrate at camp. I just put them in freezer bags, seal and keep in the freezer until I go on a hike. Make sure that you label them properly.
BTW, I live near Worcester, MA, and secretly laugh when I hear how my American colleagues murder the pronunciation
Good luck with your gourmand experiments.

 

[Shewie]

+1 to what PDA1 says, give it a go mate and you won't be disappointed

The Westfalia machine is a good buy, get a load of those Pour & Store bags and you're good to go.

 

[Terr]

Thanks for the advice guys! Seems like plenty of money to be saved if I can get this right LOL. Dying to give Babel's BBQ spaghetti a go.

 

[Terr]

Made Babelfish's BBQ spaghetti. Dehydrated in the oven (took about 8 hours.) It was easy and delicious:

Thanks for all your advice! Still waiting for some Pack'n'Go to arrive but homemade is so easy I doubt I will bother with store bought in the future.

 

[Shewie]

Made Babelfish's BBQ spaghetti. Dehydrated in the oven (took about 8 hours.) It was easy and delicious:

Thanks for all your advice! Still waiting for some Pack'n'Go to arrive but homemade is so easy I doubt I will bother with store bought in the future.

Good stuff, glad it turned out okay

 

[tartanferret]

+1 to what PDA1 says, give it a go mate and you won't be disappointed

The Westfalia machine is a good buy, get a load of those Pour & Store bags and you're good to go.

Are these bags safe for rehydrating in or just storage? Just sampled my first attempt.

I made a veg stew dehydrated in the oven. After a month storage I've had it for my dinner, it wasn't bad actually.

Now I've looked at..http://www.polylina.co.uk/pour&store.html

I'm not sure boiling water and these bags mix?

Any idea?